Nature conservation has for a long time been founded on the assumption that high ecological values depend on low human impact. In Sweden this has led to forests with these characteristics being strictly protected from human influences. However, it is also known that historical land-use can enhance ecological values in forests. Mountainous forests in Sweden, which have not been affected by modern forestry, have for a long time been considered as untouched by people. However, forest history research has in recent years shown that even these areas have been used by people for a long period of time.

That ecological and evolutionary processes can take place on the same time scale is a recent insight. Today we also know that they are directly linked to each other. In the lake Tåkern, in year 2000, there was a structural change when phytoplankton declined and submerged vegetation, mainly stoneworts began to spread. This led to evolutionary changes in the aquatic sowbug, Asellus aquaticus which had previously been limited to the reed, most likely feeding on detritus. But then, sowbugs could exploit the new habitat in stoneworts and a new food resource in terms of periphyton.

Our paper is a study about youth and their self-images. During our practical training period we found that the problems young people had always were connected with their self-image. We therefore wanted to find out what youth believe influence their self-image. The purpose of our study was to examine young people and their self-images in a perspective of the ecological systems model. Essential issues have been what self-images young people have, what they consider influence their self-image most, how they think they can resist influence from the environment and how they would like to be influenced by the environment if they could decide themselves.

In Sweden, the County Administration board is responsible for improving the water quality in lakes and watercourses according to the European Union Water Framework Directive. In Västmanland county, where river Lillån is situated, the County Administration of Västmanland have the main responsibility for the aquatic environment in that area. The knowledge about the different watercourses in the chatchment of river Lillån is today limited. The aim with this study was to evaluate the ecological quality of River Lillån based on water chemistry analyses and benthic fauna investigations. The aim was also for the benthic fauna to compere different samplingsites and sampling methods with each other in order to see how the species composition changes in the river, and to see the advantages and disadvantages with different sampling tecniques.

AbstractThe research project Liberation, supported by the European Commission under the Environment and Sustainable Development Programme (Fifth RTD Framework Programme) aimed at developing a decision support system for ecological risk assessment of contaminated sites has proposed a tiered system including the triad method. This method integrates contaminant chemistry and bioavailability analyses with observed ecotoxicological effects in soil and groundwater. In this study the triad method was used to perform a risk characterization of a former surface treatment and metal industry, now used for the student union buildings of the Mälardalen University in Eskilstuna, Sweden. On the site, high concentrations of copper, zinc and nickel have been detected in the soil in a preliminary investigation of contaminant levels with XRF. For performing the risk assessment of the site according to the triad method, contaminant bioavailability, soil metal concentrations and soil toxicity were determined and an ecological assessment was carried out on four selected soil samples (one reference soil and three samples with low (B), medium (C) and high (D) contaminant levels). Contaminant bioavailability was measured through leaching (ISO TC 190/S7) and biouptake tests (DGT).

The purpose of our study was to examine 13 to 14 year olds experience of bullying from a perspective of human developmental ecological systems. The questions at issue were: How do the young people themselves define the concept of bullying? Which own experiences do the young people have of bullying? How come bullying exists according to the young people? How do the young people experience that their surroundings view bullying? What do the young people consider that you can do about bullying? We used a qualitative method to collect and handle our primary empirical data. We did individual interviews with ten young people.The results of our study shows that the majority of the persons interviewed thought people bully because they have bad home conditions and that they are unsure of them selves. Many of the young people talked about three different groups in a school class: The popular, the less popular and the nerds.

In order to understand the human impact on today?s remaining ?virgin? forest and to develop sensible management strategies for future reserves, it is necessary to know how these forests have developed. This knowledge can be gained by using forest history analysis. here are large areas of forests still untouched by modern forestry in the mountainous region in the county of Norrbotten. These forests are highly interesting study objects from an ecological and historical point of view.

Gothenburg municipality has a lot of natural water. This paper enhances the function and importance of water in the city. It also deals with the problems of sewage water and flooding. Gothenburg has reached an advanced stage of water planning. By developing a Waterplan, the municipality highlight that water has an important position in the urban planning.

Pharmaceuticals are environmental pollutants that are a major threat to aquatic ecosystems and very little is known about their ecological consequences. In this study growth, survival and behaviour (sociability, activity and boldness) of perch fry (Perca fluviatilis) were examined in order to study the possible effects of exposure to a benzodiazepine anxiolytic drug, Oxazepam, during embryonic development. The study tested following hypotheses: (1) perch growth is affected positively by exposure during embryonic development; (2) early perch survival is affected positively by exposure during embryonic development; and (3) boldness and activity increases while sociability decreases in perch fry exposed during embryonic development. Embryos of naturally spawned perch were exposed to water with two different concentrations of Oxazepam. The embryos were exposed during different parts (24-hour periods) of the embryonic development, because embryos may be more vulnerable at certain times during embryonic development and/or because the exposure at different times can produce different effects.

Sustainable development has become the ideology of the twentieth first century. As an important concept and as a framework of political action, sustainable development can at this point be considered as the very symbol of a paradigm in the international debate over environmental issues and the threats of climate change. But what does the concept of sustainability actually suggest? This thesis uses discourse analysis in order to examine the Swedish learning for sustainable development as to three different discourses on the national arena: the government and the municipals of Piteå and Växjö respectively. When the study foremost concerns official policy documents that contain associations with the study area, the methodology used takes into consideration both language, signs, metaphors and so called story lines.

Sustainable development has become the ideology of the twentieth first century. As an important concept and as a framework of political action, sustainable development can at this point be considered as the very symbol of a paradigm in the international debate over environmental issues and the threats of climate change. But what does the concept of sustainability actually suggest? This thesis uses discourse analysis in order to examine the Swedish learning for sustainable development as to three different discourses on the national arena: the government and the municipals of Piteå and Växjö respectively. When the study foremost concerns official policy documents that contain associations with the study area, the methodology used takes into consideration both language, signs, metaphors and so called story lines.

The textile business is one of the oldest industries of our time, and it employs nearly 1.4 million workers within the European Union alone. It is not unusual that this is the foundation of a country?s industrialisation. Even though the industry brings many positive factors, there are also negative factors that will influence the industry?s growth in the future.

Environmental objective 17: Sustainable consumption - An attempt to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption with the environmental objectives system The aim of this report was to integrate the global impact of the Swedish consumption withthe environmental objectives system through presenting a suggestion for a seventeenth environmental objective ? Sustainable consumption. How the Swedish consumption pressures the global environment and methods to measure the affects was investigated. The pressure was divided into five main fields: climate, air, water, land and chemicals. The impacton humans and the biodiversity was also discussed, as well as differences between how men and women affect the environment and get affected when the environment changes.

This report is commissioned by the Water and Sewage Agency in The City of Mariehamn, Åland. The basic aim is to investigate positive or negative effects of a relocation of the sewage pipe from a wastewater treatment plant, Lotsbroverket. The environmental licence of Lotsbroverket is to be revised and The Environmental Appeal Board at Åland?s Government and Administrative Board has made demands that several possible locations in an outer water area should be examined. The present location of the sewage pipe is in Svibyviken, which has been classified as an ?inner water area?.The objective of this work is to study to which extent the nutrient loading from Lotsbroverket influence the environmental conditions in Svibyviken, and to investigate the suitability of different locations of the wastewater pipe from Lotsbroverket.The way a coastal area looks, i.e., its morphometry, determines to a large extent its ecological characteristics.

Stormwater in urban areas has been treated as a problem for a long time. The large proportion of impermeable surfaces inhibits the water from infiltrating in the ground to the same extent that it does in nature. This causes intensive surface flow during rain, which in turn causes inconveniences such as decreased accessability, floods and increased risk of desease spreading. Drainage through pipes is the traditional and usually functional metod for storm water disposal. That is as long as water flows are moderate. But precipitation varies naturally in amount and intensity and additional impermeable surfaces make some pipes insufficient for heavy or lasting precipitation.